Mamta Gupta’s Keema Meatball Curry

I am a huge fan of spice and vibrant fresh flavour, which means we eat a lot of Indian and Middle Eastern foods in our house. We’re also fans of lamb. For years, every Autumn, I’ve bought a whole lamb from a local crofter for our freezer; lambs reared in the fields outside my house, lambs I know have been treated well, and lambs that have been slaughtered locally, meaning lower food miles.

Not everyone has access to their own home grown hill lambs, but thankfully there are ways for you to choose lamb that has been farm assured and is of top quality. Look out for a quality mark like the Red Tractor logo on packets of British home grown lamb (and beef) so you can be sure the meat is traceable, safe to eat and has been produced responsibly.

Lamb mince is an incredibly delicious and versatile ingredient – use it in comfort food dishes like shepherd’s pies and barbecue kofta skewers, but what about non-traditional recipes like hash, pancakes, tortillas, tacos, toasties, nachos, pasta bakes or even in a Scotch egg?

Simply Beef and Lamb have teamed up with Red Tractor and a couple of pretty awesome Keema Nans who want to share their family recipes and home cookery tips, showing you just how versatile and tasty British lamb can be. This week they’ve published a rather fantastic digital keema cookbook comprised of traditional and modern keema recipes (keema means ‘minced meat’) along with some cooking tips, advice and more.

One of their recipes, the keema meatball curry by Mamta Gupta over at Mamta’s Kitchen, really caught my eye, so this weekend I treated the family to a quick and delicious Indian curry. Watch the video above to see just how easy it is!

Would you believe that even the kids ate it! When you’ve got fussy kids like mine this is so much for the win!

The keema meatball curry was really simple to make, and there’s something incredibly satisfying with working with whole herbs and spices. The scents and aromas wafting from the kitchen had the family ooh-ing and aah-ing long before dinner was ready, and the thing with Indian cooking is that you can always adjust the heat to your liking. I only used half a chopped chilli in my meatballs, and that was just perfect for the kids. Not to spicy but still with a kick of heat to get the juices going. I always serve a little bowl of plain, natural yogurt on the side to help cool things down, if needs be.

You can find the recipe for other rather creative ways to cook lamb mince in The Keema Sutra, a recipe booklet to banish boring recipes and inspire families to spice up mealtimes. on the Simply Beef & Lamb website.

Mamta Gupta's Indian Keema Meatball Curry

Lamb mince make delicious kofta (meat balls) which can be added to any curry sauce that you like. This meatball curry is so delicious, perfect to serve for a special meal. Despite the long list of ingredients, this curry is easy to make and relatively inexpensive too.

Prep Time25mins

Cook Time30mins

Total Time12hrs55mins

Servings: 4people

Author: Elizabeth

Ingredients

for the meatballs

500gramslamb mince

1largeeggslightly beaten

1mediumonionpeeled and roughly chopped

0.5inchfresh ginger rootpeeled

3garlic clovespeeled

1-2green chillifinely chopped (or use red)

1.5tspsea saltor to taste

0.5tspfreshly ground black pepper

10chopped fresh mint(or mint, if you prefer)

for the whole spices

1tspwhole cumin seeds

3green cardamom podsbroken slightly with a mortar

8whole peppercorns

6whole cloves

2bay leaves

2inchcinnamon stickor cassia bark

for the curry

2tbspvegetable oil

1mediumonionpeeled and roughly chopped

3garlic clovespeeled

1inchfresh ginger rootpeeled

1/2tspground coriander

1/2tspground turmeric

1/2tspground chilli powderadjust to taste

1tspsweet paprikafor colour

saltto taste

2tbsptomato puree

2mediumtomatoesor 200 grams chopped tinned tomatoes

0.5 - 0.75pintwater

1tspgaram masala

2tbspfresh coriander leavesto garnish

Instructions

1. Place all meat ball ingredients, except the lamb and egg, in a food processor and process finely. If you don't have a food processor chop the ingredients as fine as you can.

Place the lamb in a large bowl and add the onion mixture and the egg. Mix well by hand or with a large spoon.

Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and leave in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight, to marinate. This helps the flavours to infuse.

When ready to cook the curry, shape the meatballs into 20 walnut sized balls. I divided the mixture into half, then half again to make the balls as evenly sized as I could. Wetting your fingers and palms helps with the rolling.

To prepare the curry, heat the vegetable oil in a heavy based saucepan.

When the oil is hot, add the whole spices. When the cumin seeds begin to sizzle add the onion, garlic and ginger mix.

Fry this mixture until it is golden to dark brown. This might take awhile, but be patient - it's an important step in making the curry taste amazing.

Add the meatballs, raw, to the simmering (but not boiling!) sauce. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes, with the lid off (covering with the lid sometimes causes the meatballs to break), shaking the pan on occasion and turning once.

When meat balls are ready, any oil will separate and float to the top of the sauce. Add half the coriander leaves and garam masala, stir gently and transfer to a serving dish.

Notes

These meatballs can also be served plain as a snack or starter – you can even squish them into flat burger patties and serve in mini burger buns. Just shallow fry in a pan and serve with a fresh green chutney or your choice of condiment.

This is a paid post in collaboration with Simply Beef & Lamb as part of their Keema Sutra campaign. Thank you for supporting the brands who make it possible for me to do what I love: mess up my kitchen and share recipe stories!

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Comments

meatball with white rice is the best combination for a dinner. i usually cook meatball with tofu ( try it out Elizabeth 😀 ) because my kids eat much more whenever i make that dish.
i forward more posts from you, have a nice week!

Oooof this looks amazing! I love curry and cook it possibly twice a week – I’m quite literally addicted to spices so this recipe couldn’t be any more up my street if you possibly tried!
I’m going to give it a go on Friday night. Thank you!

I love lamb keema curry.It’s comfort food to beat all.
I am Indian and this has been a Sunday dinner favourite fora very long time.You pics are so great I can literally smell the aroma wafting from this beautiful dish.

I would so love to make this recipe but would need help I dislike all the ingredients you have to put in lol I guess that is what curry is all about all the spices have to be just right!Tara L recently posted…IllumiBowl Review

I do enjoy a good curry quite often and this one looks absolutely delicious! Your photos are beautiful and the recipe sounds even better! I’ll have to try this one out the next time I’m craving a tasty curry!

Do you know what, I’ve never thought of using meatballs in a curry – we always use lamb/chicken/prawns. Going to try this next time to mix things up a bit xSam | North East Family Fun recently posted…Save the date | Juice Festival – October Half Term

Curry is always so delicious, and I’ve actually never used minced lamb before – in fact I’m not sure I could even get it here, but now I’ll be on the lookout for it! If I can’t find it I’ll substitute chicken or keep it vegetarian…otherwise I have all the ingredients so this one goes on my short list of new recipes to try!Lisa recently posted…Mini Chocolate Almond Cherry Truffle Bites

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